


so pick a place, pretend it's home

by Ariesgirl666



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Marvel's Runaways au, More tags to be added, Stan has a boyfriend and a dinosaur cause he deserves it, They're all 17-18, aged-up, everyone is bi or pan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-27 19:23:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16708576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariesgirl666/pseuds/Ariesgirl666
Summary: “Dude, you’re a fucking alien,” Richie grins. “This is awesome.”“Nothing about this is awesome!” Eddie snaps. “Shit, do you guys realize what this means?”“Our parents are terrible people?” Beverly says dryly. “Big surprise.”“You can’t pretend you aren’t affected by this, Bev,” says Mike, floating down so his bioluminiscent feet hover just a few inches off the ground.Beverly looks away. “I know,” she mutters. “My dad’s an asshole, but I didn’t think he was smart enough to be part of a cult.”





	1. the view from the top is beautiful but fleeting

“So, what now?” Beverly says, and then regrets asking.

Her mom and dad’s gone off with the other adults to do -she doesn’t know, rich-people stuff. And just like every year, Bev’s stuck with five boys that she doesn’t particularly know or like.  
“Whatever,” Stan Uris mumbles from where he sits, back leaning against the couch, without looking up from his book. His parents are accountants, and he’s Jewish. Both of these Beverly only knows from her father’s drunk ranting at home.

“We could play Spin the Bottle,” Richie Tozier says with his trademark provocative grin. His parents do something with pharmaceuticals, but that’s all Beverly knows. His glasses are stuck together with Scotch tape and he takes a wad of gum out of his mouth so he can stick it on the underside of the glass table.

“You fuckin’ wish,” Eddie Kaspbrak snorts. He’s perched in a much-too-large armchair, judging the rest of them. He’s old money, like _really_ old money, and his mom thinks Beverly’s a whore. Sitting at the base of the armchair is Mike Hanlon, whose dad owns a string of clubs in New York as well as LA. He’s one of the only genuinely nice people Beverly knows, which is probably why she’s so suspicious of him.

“There should be some board games in the closet,” Mike says, ever the peacemaker.

“Fuck board games. We’re practically adults,” Richie says, and the others all laugh. Even Stan snorts.

“Y-you’re the f-f-farthest thing from an adult th-there is,” Bill Denbrough says, and then blushes as if somebody’s going to make fun of his stutter.

“That’s not what Eddie’s mom would -”

“I told you what I’d do if you mentioned my mom again!”

Beverly glances over at Bill. His parents were the ones who started organizing these meetings, after all. She remembers when they were all younger, the Denbroughs had been a lot more affectionate. Bill had been too. Of course, it all changed when his little brother had been killed. Beverly wishes she knew how to relate to Bill, but what do you say after that kind of tragedy?

“We should spy on our parents,” Stan suggests, his voice cutting through Eddie and Richie’s latest argument.

Beverly quirks an eyebrow. “Why?”  
“Why not?There’s nothing else to do here.” This is probably the longest conversation she’s ever had with Stan, she realizes. Beverly shrugs. “Why not.”

“If they find out, they’re going to be pissed,” Mike says, which isn’t exactly a no, and Beverly can work with that. “Then we’ll be quiet.” She casts her gaze to the other three -Eddie looks torn, Richie looks curious, and Bill’s smiling. “You in?”

“I h-h-have to show you guys something,” Bill says, standing. He moves over to the bookshelf and pulls out one of the novels. Part of the bookshelf slides back into the wall, revealing a set of stairs leading down.  
“Your house has a secret tunnel?” Richie asks, tone wavering between envy and delight.  
“I f-found it w-wuh-when I was cleaning u-up in here last year,” Bill explains. “I d-don’t know where it g-g-goes.”

Stan marks his page and closes his book. The six kids look at each other, waiting for somebody to back out, and when nobody does, Bill leads the way into the tunnel and Beverly closes the bookshelf-door behind them.

 

The stairs open out onto the upper level of a room, which is brightly lit and milling with figures -people -moving around in bloodred cloaks. Beverly crouches down next to where Eddie has his hand over Richie’s mouth and watches.

“Those are our parents,” Mike whispers, confused. Beverly recognizes her mom and dad, both wearing the cultlike red cloaks, arguing about something with Stan’s parents.She tugs on her ponytail anxiously.

Bill’s parents walk to the center of the room, leading before them a figure dressed entirely in white -white cloak, white robe. When the figure lifts the hood, they see that it’s a blonde girl around the same age as them, but nobody recognizes her. The parents have formed a circle now, holding hands, and the circle tightens in around the frightened-looking teenage girl. Mike’s mom starts chanting and now they’re all chanting and suddenly there are knives and _blood_ and and -the girl falls to the ground, dead, white dress bloodstained, and it’s only when Mrs. Denbrough looks up that Beverly realizes that the soft whimper they heard wasn’t from the dead girl. She looks over her shoulder and sees Mike’s hand over Stan’s mouth. “Go, go,” Bill mouths, and they all bolt through the tunnel after him.  
“Holy shit holy shit,” Stan is saying.

“Jesus fuck,” Eddie repeats in a similar vein.

“Everyone shut up!” Beverly says with authority she didn’t realize she had. “They’re coming! Act natural!”  
“W-what do y-you suggest?” Bill asks, and Mike’s eyes light up.

When their parents walk in, now dressed in their fancy shoes and nice suits and dresses, the kids are playing Twister in the middle of the room.

“Hey guys,” says Mike’s dad, looking a little confused, mostly relieved. “Having fun?”  
“Sure,”Beverly says with practiced disinterest and the group releases a sigh of relief.

(That night, they exchange email addresses. “My dad checks my texts,” Beverly had explained, and Eddie had looked at her sympathetically. His mom does the same thing.)

 **Outgoing Mail** **\- bev.marsh:** what are we going to do

 **Inbox** **\- e-kaspbrak:** call the fucking police

 **Inbox** **-bitchy_tozier:** are u shitting me right now eds??? there’s no way they’re gonna believe us

 **Inbox** **-e-kaspbrak:** i told you not to call me that

 **Inbox** **-mikehanlon:** what other choice do we have tho

 **Outgoing Mail** **-bev.marsh:** we can’t let them get away with murder!

 **Inbox** **-older_denbrough:** did any of you recognize that girl?

 **Inbox** **-e-kaspbrak:** no

 **Inbox** **-mikehanlon:** i don’t think so

 **Inbox** **-bitchy_tozier:** no.

 **Inbox** - **older_denbrough:** we need to be smart about this guys. don’t let them know we’re onto them.

 **Inbox** **-bitchy_tozier:** omfg what if we’re next????

 **Inbox** **-mikehanlon:** i doubt it

 **Outgoing Mail** **-bev.marsh** : if the police can’t help us then where the fuck are we supposed to go?

 **Inbox** - **mikehanlon** : go over their heads? higher authority?

 **Inbox** **-e-kaspbrak:** like what?

 **Inbox** **-bitchy_tozier:** call the fucking president

 **Inbox** **-e-kaspbrak:** shut up richie this is serious!

 **Inbox** **-older_denbrough:** just overheard mom say that bc the thing got interrupted theyre gng to need to do it again tmrw night wait fuck she almost saw me

 **Outgoing Mail** **-bev.marsh:** they’re going to kill another kid??

 **Inbox** **-e-kaspbrak:** what if we film it? and then show the cops

 **Inbox** **-older_denbrough:** too risky

 **Outgoing Mail** **-bev.marsh:** and there’s no way to prove we didn’t fake the footage anyway

 **Inbox** **-uris18:** we can’t let them murder another kid!

 **Inbox** **-mikehanlon:** first priority needs to be making sure they don’t hurt anyone else

 **Inbox** **-uris18:** This can’t be happening.

 **Inbox** **-e-kaspbrak:** we are so past that

...

 **Inbox** **-older_denbrough:** ok. here’s the plan…(attachment.plan.jpg)


	2. the world seems to stop but looks can be decieving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A rescue is staged and a civilian is involved.

“I can’t believe I have to do this two nights in a row,” Richie mutters to cover up his nervousness. His mother adjusts a pearl earring. “You’ll live, sweetie.”

At the Denbrough house, Beverly and Stan are already there and looking similarly apprehensive. Beverly shifts in her black ballet flats, looking uncomfortable. Once the others arrive and the parents drift off, the plan goes into motion.

Eddie and Mike go down into the secret tunnel to notify the others when the parents go in that creepy room. Richie and Stan are in the living room. Bill and Beverly, meanwhile, are trying to find their parents’ next intended victim before they do.

“I feel like James Bond,” Richie mutters into his phone. _“You’re no James Bond,”_ Eddie snipes.

“But then how could yoube my Bond girl?”

Stan elbows him sharply and hisses “ _focus”._

Meanwhile, Beverly nudges Bill and points towards the parking lot. Bill nods, and once Stan sends through the all-clear _“targets in the living room”_ , the two kids began opening trunks.

Bill finds a teenage boy bound and gagged in Mr. Tozier’s car and steps back. “B-Bev, you g-gotta come over here,” he calls. Beverly pushes a red curl behind her ear. “Holy shit.”

“I k-k-know.”  
“No, I mean, I know this kid. He’s in my English class. Ben Hanscom, right?”

The boy in the trunk nods, and then winces as Beverly rips the tape off his mouth. “Don’t worry, Ben, we’re going to get you out of here, I promise,” she says. “Bill, help me get him up.”

Bill lets the other boy lean on him as Beverly undoes his restraints.

“W-we need to h-h-hide him,” Bill says, and Beverly frowns contemplatively. “What if we bring him down to the tunnel with Eddie and Mike?”  
“Can’t I just go home?” Ben interrupts, and Bill and Beverly exchange a look.

“If they think you’ve escaped they’ll just come after you again,” Beverly explains with a frown.

Ben looks at Beverly like she’s his guardian angel, and Beverly thinks _this might not be so bad after all._

 

 

 

 

“Hey, do you think I could get cancer from standing this close to you?” Richie asks casually, and Eddie jumps a whole foot back out of reflex.

Mike floats above the ground, effervescent, and bathed in -or made out of- pink, blue and yellow lights.

“Radiation poisoning,” Stan corrects absentmindedly from where he’s standing behind Bill.

“I don’t think so?” Mike says uncertainly.

“Dude, you’re a fucking alien,” Richie grins. “This is awesome.”

“Nothing about this is awesome!” Eddie snaps. “Shit, do you guys realize what this means?”  
“Our parents are terrible people?” Beverly says dryly. “Big surprise.”

“You can’t pretend you aren’t affected by this, Bev,” says Mike, floating down so his bioluminiscent feet hover just a few inches off the ground.

Beverly looks away. “I know,” she mutters. “My dad’s an asshole, but I didn’t think he was smart enough to be part of a cult.”

“Same here,” Eddie says, and they high-five.

“There has to be some kind of explanation for this,” Stan says. He’s pacing, now. “Things like this don’t happen in real life. And if they did, it wouldn’t be our parents. Bev, I know your dad’s terrible, but they aren’t all like that! I mean, there’s no way we just saw -”  
“Someone get murdered?” Beverly cuts in, arms crossed. “How do _you_ explain it then?”

Eddie looks questioningly at Bill, who’s been quiet throughout all of this, clutching the staff they’d found in the back of his parents’ closet, knuckles white. “What do you think we should do?” the smaller teen asks.

“I th-think we should k-keep looking,” Bill says. “M-meet back here tomorrow.”  
“I don’t know if my mom is going to let me,” Eddie trails off hesitantly.

“Don’t worry, I know how to keep your mom distracted,” Richie leers, and Eddie punches him in the shoulder. What should’ve been a light punch instead sends Richie flying several feet backwards to sprawl on his ass, mouth open.

Eddie stares at his hand. “That’s not -that isn’t…”

“Y-yuh-you too?”

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” Richie crows delightedly, standing up. “Hey Glowstick Boy, come over here!”

Obediently, Mike floats over as Richie twists Eddie’s hand up against the light like he’s looking for hidden wires or seams. Beverly snorts. “Find anything?”  
Eddie snatches his hand back and tries to swat Richie, who dances out of his reach. Mike snaps his silver bracelet back on, and he looks undeniably human now.

“W-we should go before they get s-s-”

“Suspicious?” Beverly says, and Bill flushes deeply and nods.

 

 

So they do what they do best. They run.

Well, most of them run. After all, Stan found a freaking pterodactyl in his dad’s basement, and Mike can fly.

And if you want to be like. Really technical, then you could say that those of them that did run only ran to Beverly’s van, which, according to Richie, is way shadier looking than a vehicle of transportation has any right to be, but it’s a lot more reasonable to fit them all than Bill’s fucking BMW. So.

Bev drives far enough away from the city so that Mike can swoop down without attracting attention, his radiance lighting up the night. Stan follows shortly after, a lot less gracefully landing his pterodactyl (who he’d named Thrush, because Stan is that sort of person.)

After Mike, Stan, and Thrush have crammed themselves inside the van, Ben takes over driving.

“This is insane,” Mike says, and it’s the first words that have been spoken inside the van all night. “My parents couldn’t have…have…”  
“And yet,” says Beverly, examining the Firestarter gloves she’d found in her dad’s laboratory like they’re the Holy Grail.

Stan is flushed with the excitement of flying, his halo of curls wind-mussed and his cheeks pink. It’s almost inhumanly beautiful, Mike thinks, and he smiles like a dork.

Bill is examining his Staff of One while Richie whistles the Harry Potter theme song like a dick. Eddie’s passed out in the back, his head on Beverly’s lap and his legs on Richie’s.

They drive to a gas station at Ben’s suggestion, to pick up some necessities, when they hear a crash outside. Somebody’s robbing the gas station.

“Maybe we shouldn’t get involved,” Stan says as Bill rushes out the van.

“Nobody ever listens to the Jew,” Stan mutters, and gets a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from Mike.

 

The robbers consist of a man and two women in black hoods and ski masks.

“Drop the guns,” Bill says in a voice so commanding and charismatic that Richie almost reaches for a sidearm he doesn’t have.

Mike takes off his bracelet, and luminiscence fills the cheaply-lit gas station. “We don’t want anybody to get hurt now.”  
“They’re muties!” the man shouts, and begins firing.

“ _SHIELD,_ ” Bill says, and the air thickens into a protective one-way wall around them.

“I’m an extraterrestrial,” Mike says, offended, and knocks the gun out of the man’s hand with a swipe of his arm.

“And it’s _mutant_ , you discriminatory creep,” Eddie snaps, five feet of pissed-offedness, and belts the male robber in the stomach, _hard_. His pupil’s glow bright pink as his strength sends the man flying against a display shelf. The two women exchange a look but keep their guns raised.

Beverly summons fire to her hand with a thought and the glove works flawlessly.

“Bev…” Mike says in his please-don’t-hurt-anyone voice.

Stan rolls his eyes and snaps his fingers and from outside, Thrush _screams_ , a pterodactyl shriek that makes both robbers drop their guns in shock.

“I wish my dad had gotten her for my Bar Mitzvah,” Stan mutters proudly.

Bill turns to the store owner, paralyzed in shock. “ _FORGET_ ,” he says, and her eyes glaze over.

“Wait!” One of the girls takes off her mask. She’s their age. “Take me with you, please!”  
“Audra!” the woman snarls, and grabs her arm but the girl twists free. The shield evaporates as she steps closer to Bill.

She is stunningly beautiful, Beverly notices against her will, with red-gold curls falling out of a black cap and ice chips for eyes. Not that Beverly is attracted to her or anything. Gross.

“My parents forced me to help them,” Audra says in that lilting, pleading tone. “I didn’t have a choice.”  
“We could vote,” Mike offers mildly. Eddie’s sizing Audra up suspiciously, fists clenched. Next to him, Richie looks just as taken with the strange girl’s beauty as Beverly.

“She’s c-coming with us,” Bill decides. Stan looks put-out.

“Thanks so much!” Audra hugs Bill, and he awkwardly puts his hands on her back. “Uh, n-no p-p-problem.”

 

In the van, Eddie, Stan, and Thrush look at Audra with identical glares.

“Try anything and my dinosaur will _eat_ you,” Stan says. Thrush purrs in agreement. Audra nods hastily. “So, uh, do you all have superpowers?”  
“Cept me and Bev,” Richie says from the driver’s seat. “We just have bad parents. And Ben’s just here to look pretty.”  
“Hello,” Ben says pleasantly. Audra smiles shyly. Beverly isn’t quite sure who she’s jealous of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My fancasts for this fic are  
> Beverly Marsh --Katherine McNamara  
> Ben Hanscom --Taron Egerton  
> Richie Tozier --Ezra Miller  
> Eddie Kaspbrak --Tarjei Sandvik Moe  
> Mike Hanlon --John Boyega  
> Stanley Uris --Timothee Chalamet  
> Bill Denbrough --Froy Gutierrez


End file.
